The present invention relates to a method of cutting mat strips from wide sheets or panels of adhesive material covered with release layers, particularly SMC resin mat panels, by removing the release layers immediately prior to the actuation of the cutting devices and by subdividing the panels of material in the longitudinal and transverse directions with cutting devices. The invention also relates to an apparatus for implementing the method.
The present invention is particularly applicable to what is referred to as SMC or sheet molding compound resin mat sheets or panels which, after being formed into strip stacks, also referred to as mat packets, (i.e., stacks of rectangular mat strips) can be processed into molded components by means of pressing or deforming tools.
The resin mat panels, of the type which are of particular interest here, are initially coiled or wound into rolls. Before such panels are processed into pressed components, the release layers must be removed and, in the normal case, the panels must be subdivided into rectangular mat strips.
In the prior art processes, a resin mat sheet is subdivided in the longitudinal and transverse directions without removing the release layers, thus forming mat strips. The release layers are then manually removed only when several mat strips are to be combined or stacked into mat packets. An automatic manufacturing process is also known in which the resin mat panel covered with release layers is subdivided longitudinally before it reaches a range of the feed device, which thereafter, feeds the panel to a release layer removal device. The drawback of such a method and the resulting structure is that the feed device is soiled by the escape of resin substance from the panels and, in addition, the later removal of the release layers from narrow mat strips poses considerable difficulties. Yet another problem with such a method and apparatus is that, under certain circumstances, the mat strips which are already separated from one another by a longitudinal cut may be unavoidably pressed against one another when passing through the feed device, with sufficient force such that they stick together again.